Macon and Bibb County are but the latest of a number of consolidation actions in the state. When we looked into the issue (and we have been thinking about it for some time), we found very mixed results from other cities and counties in the state that had consolidated. On the one hand, consolidation should create a more progressive taxation system because it distributes the costs of running the city (from which all nearby residents benefit) to all residents of the county and not just the residents of the city. On the other hand, consolidation dilutes minority votes and, as a result, hurts Democrats a little.
With our consolidation law, here in Macon-Bibb, we Democrats got the worst of two worlds. Our consolidation charter maintains a higher tax rate for city residents until the city's indebtedness is paid off. We agreed to that in order to, eventually, get more tax revenues from county residents who were not city residents. Then, the General Assembly amended the law, without input from local Democrats, to have non-partisan elections in July (as opposed to the partisan elections in November to which the people of Bibb County consented in a 2012 referendum).
We feel shafted, and this is part of why I opposed the consolidation bill from the very beginning. If the process is completely controlled by Georgia's Republican General Assembly, which it is, then it's quite stupid to expect the results to be good. As it turns out, the results are bad, as many of us expected. Sorry that Athens-Clarke had the same experience. Athens is one of the coolest and most liberal cities in Georgia, and it saddens me to know that its liberal political power has been diminished by consolidation.
Regards,
-Laelth
= new reply since forum marked as read
